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Anyone who has learnt to fly can appreciate the strain that is often placed on the long suffering flight instructor. When your editor was learning he often felt guilty for putting his instructor through so much trauma on those not infrequent days when nothing seemed to work as advertised! (Jim Thorn)
Air Safety — Instructor Stress
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Flight Instructor Stress
The student pilot had not flown for three months so the CFI conducted a dual flight with him prior to authorising him for his first solo cross country. The CFI also conducted a comprehensive briefing prior to the cross country flight which included a study of the weather forecasts, and the action to be taken in the event of him encountering unsuitable wind or turbulence conditions. The student pilot took off at 1253. The CFI monitored the student’s radio calls on the Tower frequency. He heard the student pilot report, “Approaching Eyrewell fifteen hundred feet” at 1259 hours and subsequently at 1307 hours “Approaching Rangiora – fifteen hundred feet outbound”. No further calls were heard from the aircraft on any frequency. The aircraft crashed at approximately 1315 hours (New Zealand, 1991, Aircraft Accident Report No. 91-002).
Flight Instructor Stress
Whilst flight instructing is a very rewarding occupation, most would agree that it ranks amongst the more stressful jobs in the aviation industry. Flight instructing is a demanding science (art). It’s arranging things so that student pilots will learn better and faster than they would incidentally or by trial and error. It’s caring about results because students are important, learning counts, and safety is at stake. The following poem, written by a student at the Brandon Flying Club, Canada (circa 1976), alludes to the stress experienced by flight instructors: An instructor knocked on the pearly gate, His face was scared and cold. He stood before the wall of fate, For admission to the fold. “What have you done?” St Peter asked, “To gain admission here?” “A flying instructor, sir,” he said, “For many and many a year.” The pearly gate swung open wide – St. Peter punched the bell. “Come in and choose a harp, young man, You’ve had your share of hell.” There is also an old cliche that says that “flight training is hours and hours of boredom, interspersed by moments of stark terror”. Indeed, most would agree that stress is part of a flight instructor’s life. However, the contribution that flight instructors make to the aviation industry often goes unnoticed or is seldom fully appreciated. Flight instructors must patiently teach aspiring pilots the delicate art of landing an aircraft, if not always smoothly, at least safely and must decide when it is safe to send these fledgling aviators on their first solo. Flight instructors also have the responsibility of signing out students on their first solo cross country, which can contribute to premature grey hair. IFR flight instructors must teach the intricacies of instrument approaches to prospective instrument pilots in a demanding and high workload environment. These instructors must allow their students the time to recognise mistakes or deviations and hopefully initiate corrective actions whilst trying to fit in with airliners and follow Air Traffic Control clearances and instructions as closely as possible; not always an easy task when students decide to be ‘innovative’. Interviews with flight instructors in New South Wales revealed that several facets of flight instructing are considered particularly stressful by flight instructors. For the purpose of this study, occupational stress is defined as an experience of unpleasant, negatively toned emotions, such as anger, anxiety, impatience, tension and even depression, resulting from various aspects of the flight instructor’s work. The data from the interviews revealed four major sources or areas of stress: flight instructor training; career development; the nature of the work; and the working environment.
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